Review: Lo & Sons Travel Purses

Searching for the best purse for business travel is like searching for my holy grail. You really don’t think about how much a purse can affect a trip until you have a bad one. The right purse can make weekly trips better, easier, and of course, more stylish.

While scouring the internet, searching for my next bag, I discovered Lo & Sons. Helen Lo is a former road warrior who never found the perfect travel bag, so decided to create her own. Working with her sons, Helen has created the best travel purses I have ever used. Once she sent me the larger O.G. (Overnight and Gym) and the T.T. (Travel Tote) to try out, I immediately fell in love. They are both fantastic, and earn high marks from this Road Warriorette.

Great things about these purses:

Appearance. I love the interesting, not just rectangular, shape of both of these purses. They are very sleek looking. I also love that backstrap designed to go onto your suitcase handle looks like a pocket, so the purses don’t look like luggage—they look like purses.

Size. Sometimes it seems like I could fit everything I own into the O.G. and it would keep its shape, zip up, and fit under the seat in front of me. It’s big enough to hold all of the essentials, plus a lot of extras, but is small enough to fit on an airplane. The T.T. is slimmer, and will hold all of your necessities, and a few extras. It’s definitely enough purse if you are a minimalist, and great for day trips.

Pockets. Oh my, the pockets. These bags have a pocket for everything under the sun. They both have a specific compartment for a laptop, another compartment great for magazines or file folders, an internal zipper pocket, and two small pockets on the inside, and an additional external zipper pocket. The O.G. has a bonus pocket on the side for shoes.

A couple of caveats. When I first got the purses, the zippers were a bit stiff. By the second and third uses, though, they worked great. These bags are incredibly lightweight, which is great because I put enough weight in them with all my stuff. However, that means that when my laptop is in there they get heavy to that one side and won’t stand up on their own. I don’t know if it is even possible to fix though. Finally, practice sliding the purse on and off your suitcase handle. It took me a few tries to be able to do it gracefully and quickly.

All in all, I love these purses. It’s like the bags I’ve been waiting for my whole traveling life have finally appeared. They are easy to use, hold all of my stuff, fit smoothly onto my suitcase, and are beautiful to look at. I have gotten tons of compliments each time I’ve used them. Maneuvering around the airport has gotten so much easier! I highly, highly recommend Lo and Sons purses to any traveling woman.

Editor’s Note: The O.G. is the purse that was stolen last weekend. I loved using it so much that I am purchasing a new one.

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[…] have had the black one for close to three years, and is the best travel purse I’ve ever used (see my original review here). Recently, Lo and Sons came out with a number of improvements to the O.G. that have made it better […]

Comments

Thanks to your recommendation, my T.T. is on its way! I got absolutely fed up with my giant work-issued laptop bag last week and ordered the T.T. the minute I got home. Glad to see your positive review!

Hi — I met Helen and her sons at the Travel Goods Show in Chicago last week. Her bags are very stylish, practical and great for the business traveler or downtown commuter (especially with the bag for holding shoes, since so many commuters travel in sneakers and change shoes at the office). I’ll be posting a video of Helen and her bags at Boarding Area’s http://www.pearlsoftravelwisdom in the next few days.

Hi there! I have a question for you about the O.G. vs. the T.T. My work laptop (13.7″ Latitude) doesn’t fit in the T.T. – the strap doesn’t quite reach the velcro closure. Derek very kindly offered to exchange it for the O.G. Since you had a chance to try both, can you tell if the laptop sleeve in the O.G. is bigger than the one in the T.T.? Just curious before I ask them to switch it out!

Because I am out of town, I will not be receiving my new O.G. until tomorrow. Once I get it I will see how my laptop fits in the two purses and then report back on size. I’m pretty sure I have the 11″ latitude (E4300) so mine is a bit smaller. But I remember the OG being larger side to side than the TT for sure.

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